England stars can set season alight

By Steve James

12:01AM BST 10 Apr 2005

It is true that the start of the County Championship season on Wednesday will not be greeted with any decibel-raising pomp or ceremony. But it is also undeniable that, with England having no cricket of real consequence or competition until June, county cricket now has a rare opportunity to showcase itself. And that will be all the easier for the presence of most of England's contracted players in these nascent weeks of the season.

Those county members grumbling about their unseen stars will be silenced, at least until the first Test (what a misnomer) against Bangladesh at Lord's on May 26. So, this week Marcus Trescothick - migraines permitting - will captain Somerset at Old Trafford against a Lancashire side including James Anderson (Andrew Flintoff will probably play from the start of May as a batsman and will be available throughout the Bangladesh Test series), while Ashley Giles and Simon Jones face each other at Edgbaston as Glamorgan visit Warwickshire.

Graham Thorpe will turn out for Surrey at the Oval against Sussex, while Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard will appear at Leicester and Chelmsford for Durham and Yorkshire respectively. Kent will have Geraint Jones for their National League match at Derby next Sunday, while Andrew Strauss will be present when Middlesex begin their campaign against Notts on Wednesday week. Only Michael Vaughan has been permitted a prolonged rest, until May 6. It is also worth noting that Duncan Fletcher's estimation of the National League is clearly exemplified by the fact that only Anderson, Hoggard, and the two Joneses will be allowed to play in that competition prior to the Lord's mismatch.

Fletcher will probably think even less of it when it is 40 overs per side in 2006 and is shoehorned into the second half of the season. This will allow the C & G Trophy to be expanded, with each team playing nine matches in conferences divided geographically into north and south, with Scotland joining the north and Ireland the south. But for this season the only change will be that this competition will become the last of England's domestic one-day competitions to convert to coloured clothing (and therefore white balls).

This year's Twenty20 Cup finals day will be at the Brit Oval on July 30. The cup is also enlarged, with each county playing eight zonal matches, an increase of three.

Two other eminently sensible changes were announced for 2006; firstly that England A will play two home first-class matches against the tourists, and secondly that the prize money for the championship will be altered, with first, second and now third as well, being rewarded in Division One, but only the champions in Division Two.

I do not wholly concur about the quality of cricket on view because I actually liked what I saw in Division One. I considered its attritional nature a much closer replica of Test cricket than the more frivolous stuff played out on the spicier pitches of the lower division. But, there is a point to be made about the viability of two divisions. They have created more interest come the end of the season, but surely the purpose is to create an elite division in order to increase standards over the long term. I'm not sure that is happening.

And what does it mean to be relegated? Not a lot judging by the healthy profit made by Lancashire (£557,000) last season. Their membership and sponsorship will not be affected by the drop, and you can put your mortgage on them returning immediately to the top flight (as Division Two champions, no doubt, even though Brad Hodge has been unexpectedly selected for the Ashes and has just had a hernia operation). Another relegated side, Worcestershire (£49,839 profit), will probably join them. No real damage done there.

Of course, damage can be done by those seeking a short-term fix. No, it cannot be avoided - my hobby-horse, the EU and Kolpak players. The numbers involved can be seen from the listings below. It is bad, but not as bad as I feared. Why, Arsenal had a squad cotaning 16 foreign players recently. What are we worrying about? Admittedly, though, one or two Kolpak signings have grated. Yorkshire's shameful employment of the middling 30-year-old seamer, Deon Kruis, is a sad indictment of the manner in which that club has lost its way since becoming champions in 2001, with numerous quality home-grown seamers having departed to various corners of the country despite Headingley remaining one of the most productive places to purvey that art.

There was some scare-mongering during the winter that the sports agency, athletes1, had circulated a list of 80 potential Kolpak cricketers. That was tosh. In fact they were mostly potential bona fide overseas cricketers, with some possible EU or Kolpak signings.

I am not convinced that the loan system, now simplified but never used before in its many years of existence, will be utilised, but at least the Government's revocation of their Working Holiday Maker scheme in February should block the lesser Kolpak players. And the word is that the level of the ECB performance-related fee payment - an initiative announced in October - will rise considerably from its current measly £50,000, meaning that greater emphasis on local talent will be imperative. Things might just be looking up.